Wednesday, June 2, 2010

A tatting we will, a tatting we will go high ho...

Celtic Knot Earrings done in 'Celery' hdt by Yarnplyer Celtic Knot done in 'Aqua Bay' also by hdt by Yarnplayer.


The three 'trial and errors'. Two not finished yet.


Where does the time go! May has slipped away and June is here! Yeah last day of school tomorrow! Of course next year does not sound promising. But hey, I at least still have a job!
On another note, Becki has packed, moved and is job hunting. That seems to be the theme everywhere though. It is scary when you realize the economic distress US is feeling is being felt everywhere. Thank goodness for tatting! No matter what the language you speak you can understand tatting across the globe. And though things are 'tight' everywhere there is a sense of well being when you can create something of beauty with thread. It warms the heart,cheers the soul and makes on feel like YES! LOOK WHAT I DID!

I have been following several people far more talented and creative than I and always enjoy their blogs and views on life. Everyone that tats seems to able to find the silver lining in the darkest cloud. Even when health has prevented them from enjoying life, they take to the shuttle and create such things of beauty. I can think of several tatters that have had their own private battles and who are always sunny. And though I haven't had as many challenge as some of my fellow tatters, I enjoy the sense of well being I can get from knotting some thread.I think for me it is therapy and sometimes some form of torcher.

The 3rd picture is proving to be the latter. How hard can it be to follow a pattern? Especially when it is written out and diagrammed?! Obviously for me hard. The pattern is 'Folded Bookmark' by Jon Yusoff at http://tatsaway-patterns.blogspot.com/ . The sample are as follows: 'Garden Afternoon' size 50, 'Brilliant Sunset' size 20, and 'Aqua Bay' size 10.( working with size 10 thread felt like working with rope after working with size 20 for so long.) All three threads are Yarnplayer's HDT (http://yarnplayer.etsy.com/ ) All three bookmarks have a mistake in them. This was not on purpose, they just happened. Too few stitches on a chain and short a picot or two. I thought by the third time through I would not make mistakes- I was wrong. Oh well what are you going to do. Who ever get these will never know I can't follow directions. lol.
I also made some earrings( 1st and 2nd pictures) for a friend at work using 'Aqua Bay' size 20 and 'Celery' size 20(also HDT from Yarnplayer) for earrings and size 10 for pendant. The pattern for the Celtic knot is found in Rozella Linden's "Celtic Tatting Knots and Patterns" found at Handy Hands(http://www.handyhandstatting.com/ ). The blue earrings were shuttle tatted, the green set was needle tatted. It is straight forward ds stitches with following the diagram on how to do the Celtic knot Ruth Perry style. It goes quickly (once you get the knotting technique) and is fun to do. Add a nice bead and you have a masterpiece!
I seem to be stuck in bookmarker mode time to start something BIG. I would like to enter Lake County Fair with a piece of tatting. It is in July, maybe if I start now I can get it done in time since work starts up again June 8th.( Summer school for my little guys) I will have a 3 hour break Monday through Thursday so I can walk for 45 minutes and tat for and hour and a half. We will see how far I get on both plans.(Congrats to Tatting Chic on her diet and her sucess. I know how hard it is to loose weight. I've lost and found the same 100 + pounds for years! Good luck in keeping it off!) I plan to stick to the plan and will keep the tatting world informed. Also working on a pattern. We will see who it all works out! Well time to put this 'novel' to bed. I hope all are well and keeping those shuttles flying! TaTa for now.